


Italian Holiday

by CrazyKitCat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Awkward Romance, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Implied Sexual Content, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyKitCat/pseuds/CrazyKitCat
Summary: "If that's how you feel, get your things and leave!"Hermione and Fred go on vacation to Italy. How did things get so twisted and can they fix it before they fall apart?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 16
Kudos: 48
Collections: Fremione Fanatics' Summer Fic Fest!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> beta love to LaBelladoneX and alpha love to NiightKiitten17  
> Believe me when I say this fic would not exist without them!!! I have been working on two short fics where neither was working out. Finally, I got the idea to combine them when I got the "vacation with a twist" prompt and I'm in love with how it turned out!!!

"If that's how you feel, then take your shit and leave!" Hermione yelled angrily at her boyfriend.

Fred Weasley blinked at her in shock, before his eyes hardened and he stormed out of the room.

Hermione didn’t even have the strength to follow him and lock the door as she collapsed back onto the bed in defeat.

_Where had they gone wrong?_

She and Fred had been looking forward to their trip to Rome for months and now this had happened. They had begun arguing more often weeks ago, but now it felt like all they ever did was fight.

She just didn’t understand why he couldn’t be more supportive.

Hermione jumped in surprise at the sound of the keycard in the door. Before she could react, Fred stormed back into the room and waved his wand. Instantly, all of their belongings flew into their bags, neatly packing themselves. He then shrunk their luggage and pocketed it.

Her jaw felt dislocated as she stared at him incredulously. He ignored her as he checked one last time to make sure he had everything. Saying nothing, he stalked over to her and pulled her to her feet.

Without warning, he bent down and threw her over his shoulder. That seemed to be the action Hermione needed to help her regain her voice.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, you imbecilic pain in my arse?" she exclaimed, panicked as the world tilted around her. 

"You told me to take what was mine and leave," he said by way of explanation.

"I meant that you should get your belongings," Hermione shouted angrily. "Not me and my stuff too!"

"You're my girl, aren't you, Mi?" Fred asked as he swatted her arse and carried her out of their bedroom towards the lift. Getting on the elevator, he hit the button for the ground floor and the lift descended. “Seeing as I paid for this vacation with my girlfriend, I’d be remiss to leave her behind.”

“Fred, I'm serious!” Hermione complained. “Put me down! Your shoulder is hurting my stomach!”

“No,” he replied as the lift reached the ground floor and he walked towards the front lobby. “If I believed you could stop fighting for a second, then I wouldn't have to be kidnapping you."

"You’re _kidnapping_ me?" Hermione shrieked. “What are you? A neanderthal?"

“If that's what it takes to get you to relax for once in your life, then yes!" he replied as his anger finally showed in his tone.

When he reached the front desk, he handed the front desk the keycards to their room. The concierge thanked him, while acting as if a man with a woman thrown over his shoulder was an everyday occurrence that didn’t bother him in the least. That alone steamed Hermione up more than anything.

“Thank you so much for staying with us, sir and madam! Your car is out front and I wish you both safe travels,” the gentleman told them in a thick Italian accent. Hermione heard the jingle of car keys pass hands and protested loudly again.

"You've been overworking yourself, Mi," Fred remarked as he carried Hermione outside and stopped by a rental car. Holding her in place with one hand wrapped around her legs, he used the other to unlock the door and open the passenger side door. Only then did he place her on her feet. "We planned this trip together but you’ve refused to relax since we got to Rome, so I'm going to take you on a little road trip so you can calm down a bit and listen to what I have to say."

Hermione pursed her lips in contemplation before eventually nodding her consent.

"Fine," she grumbled as she looked at the car. "If you can't change my mind with this outing though, I seriously want you to get your things and get out. I just… I just can’t do this anymore, Fred."

“Duly noted.” Fred sighed with a roll of his eyes. She glared, but got into the car willingly. He nodded as he closed the door behind her and walked around to the driver's door, pausing for a moment to retrieve his wand. Immediately two silvery hyenas burst forth. He said something to them quickly and they darted off. 

Hermione huffed, upset as she crossed her arms defiantly when Fred got into the driver's seat beside her.

Logically she knew she was probably being a tad dramatic, but this fight had been building for months. He was either too busy at the shop to remember her birthday or she was too wrapped up in trying to get promoted within the Ministry to take care of him when he got sick from his experimental potions. They never seemed to be on the same page with their relationship anymore. Months of smaller arguments had begun to take its toll on their relationship and both seemed more prone to snapping these days.

She had thought for so long that she'd been willing to fight for him, but he never seemed to be happy around her anymore, no matter what she did. She finally had snapped that, if he wasn't happy with who she was, he should just grab his things and leave. Now she was in the car with him, in Italy of all places, and he was taking her to Merlin knew where!

"Where are we even going?" she spat.

"I’m not telling you," Fred replied quickly. “I’m going to be driving for a few hours, so you can take a nap.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. If he really thought that acting like that was a way to change her mind on their breakup, then he was more delusional than she thought. She resolved to stay up and ignore him out of spite.

Despite her intentions, however, her plan did not work out.

Far too quickly for how upset Hermione felt, she started to feel the stress from the office leave her body as buildings flashed by outside of the quiet car. As Fred turned onto the E45 highway heading south, she felt herself drift into a deep slumber under the influence of the gentle rocking of the car.

* * *

It was five years after her graduation from Hogwarts — six years since Voldemort was defeated — and Hermione was still single. She and Ron had briefly dated after the war but mutually agreed after their second kiss — the first having taken place in the middle of the battle — that there were no sparks between them. The pair had decided to just be good friends and Ron had taken on the "big brother" role in her life after their brief relationship. Their other best friend, Harry, had always been like a younger brother to Hermione.

Being single, she spent a lot of her time at the Burrow. To everyone’s surprise, this meant that she had grown much closer to Ron’s older brother, Fred Weasley.

The years since Hogwarts had changed both of them. For Hermione, time had not only taught her how to wield her intelligence subtly — without coming across as a know-it-all — her fuzzy hair had now become soft ringlets. Fred had also grown up and changed a lot since school. Where he had once been a reckless mischief maker, he was now a seasoned prankster turned suave businessman. He and George still insisted upon wearing their ridiculous maroon robes at work, but out of the office they had grown their hair and now closely resembled their cool older brothers.

As a result of the war, Fred and Hermione had frequently found themselves in each other’s company while spending time at the Burrow. His sense of humor had developed past mean pranks and bad puns to a dry wit and Hermione often found herself in stitches when they chatted. They could meet there by coincidence and wind up chatting and laughing for hours. Other times, they'd often be found curled up next to each other, each absorbed in a good book. As time went on, Hermione found herself looking forward to her conversations and time spent with Fred. Eventually, she had to admit to herself that she had fallen head over heels for him and his charms.

When he had made his mutual affection known, they had immediately become inseparable aside from work.

Hermione had turned her schoolgirl passion for house-elf rights into her career as she worked hard to improve the conditions of non-human races in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but she had her eye on becoming the next Minister of Magic when Kingsley retired.

Fred and George saw great success in their own business and had already expanded Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to Hogsmeade. Their hands were full with the two locations and they loved bringing smiles to people’s faces daily.

The couple had been looking forward to their vacation for months. When they took their Portkey to Italy, they could both barely contain their excitement. Despite having been dating for three years, it wasn’t easy for the pair of them to take off work at the same time.

Twenty-eight-year-old Fred had to coordinate with George and twenty-six-year old Hermione was a well respected Ministry employee. Even when they _did_ get time off, she had difficulty breaking out of her work routine. She could get inspired by almost anything.

When they realized they could match their schedules for a week in August, they jumped at the opportunity, planning for weeks, and excited for the chance to make memories filled with relaxing and sightseeing.

As Hermione had been busy up until their departure, she had left all of the planning to Fred.

Their first full day in Rome, Fred had taken her to see the Vatican. They had met up with a tour guide who took great pleasure in answering her endless questions. They toured the halls of the museums and Fred was unsurprised to learn that Hermione knew almost half as much as their tour guide. He enjoyed taking pictures while she picked their guide’s brain. After a late lunch, the pair went down into the catacombs and Hermione was struck quiet at the beauty and mystery of the underground mausoleums.

She was practically glowing at dinner the first night. Having enjoyed the sightseeing so much, their exhaustion was well worth it. After a brief rest in the hotel, they had walked to eat gelato at the Trevi fountain. Hermione couldn’t have imagined anything more romantic than being in the arms of her lover at that point, and had shown him just how much she loved him when they got back to the hotel.

The next morning woke them bright and early as Fred had booked a private bus tour for the rest of Rome. They visited the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. The church was well known for the chapel decorated with human bones on every surface of the walls and floors. Both found the chapel to be beautiful, yet unnerving. If nothing else, the vision of exposed mummies standing upright out in the open was definitely a sight neither would forget.

When they left the chapel, the tour guide drove them all over town. He was very educated on both wizarding and Muggle history, so Hermione was able to ask him anything she wanted. He told them the stories of old Italian families ruling Rome, pointing to random buildings as they went. Fred marvelled at how the Italians continually recycled and reused buildings over the centuries. Hermione’s eyes sparkled as she compared her research to the knowledge that the tour guide knew. It was so amazing to see the stories come to life in front of her. As a researcher, the trip took extra meaning to her secret inner Ravenclaw.

As the day went on, however, Hermione’s mood began to sour at the multiple references to slaves and house-elves in different landmarks. When the tour guide mentioned that the gold inlay in some art had come from the goblin’s hordes, Hermione couldn’t help but snap about the injustices of the many centuries.

When the tour guide had left them at a popular local lunch spot, Fred had tried to calm Hermione down. He reminded her that things were different now _because_ of her; she couldn’t erase the flaws of the last two thousand years, but she could make a difference today. House-elves all over the world were now required to get paid and were not abused because of Hermione’s many campaigns and laws. She had even instigated Dobby’s Law which stated any mistreated house-elf need only report their abuse to be reassigned, if they so choose. 

Goblins also had it better than they used to. They had the right to keep and manage their gold and forges, and wizards had to pay them fairly for any goblin-made artifact they _chose_ to sell.

He took great care to remind her that the world wasn’t perfect, but she had come a long way to make it better. As hard as he tried, Hermione still argued that the world was too flawed and unjust. She wondered if she had the right to relax on vacation when there were still magical creatures in the world who needed help.

Fred tried to be understanding, but their tempers both started running thin. He insisted that even the great Hermione Granger was allowed to take a week off from saving the world, but she couldn’t hear his reason through her frustration.

In the end, Hermione could only focus on the negative aspects of everything they saw for their rest of the tour and the mood took a nosedive for the worst. Fred could only sigh in defeat. Dinner that night had been a very quiet affair and he had gone straight to bed when they got back to the hotel.

Instead of joining him, Hermione wanted to unwind, so she had run herself a bubble bath and had soaked in the water until all of the bubbles had gone and the water was cold. Standing to turn on the shower spray, Hermione washed off the soapy water and felt her stress joining the bubbles down the drain. Re-entering their room, she looked over at Fred asleep in bed and sighed, wanting to crawl in with him, but after all of the thoughts she had on their tour, she needed to get a few ideas on paper for work first.

She pulled the light-cancelling curtains around the king-sized bed shut and entered the living room. Walking over to the little desk, Hermione pulled a few pieces of paper out of her bag and got to work. Known workaholic, she quickly became absorbed in what she was doing and the hours passed quickly.

When she had finally finished around five in the morning, Hermione sighed and sat back to admire her work. She knew that most of it was rough, but she’d sleep better knowing she had a new plan on how to help. Making her way back to the bedroom, she pulled back the curtain and slipped into bed as quietly as possible to not disturb Fred’s sleep.

What she hadn’t intended was to accidentally wake Fred when she crawled into bed.

When he felt Hermione move in the bed, Fred rolled over and took her into his arms. He hated fighting and figured that some good morning sex would be the prefect way to make up. Hermione seemed to agree that it was just the ticket she needed to make up with him for their arguments the day before as she moulded her form into his. 

Afterwards, Hermione had quickly fallen asleep. Thinking he’d let her get a few more minutes of sleep, Fred left her to snooze as he showered. She had barely heard when he left the bathroom, and tried to pull herself up, but couldn’t bring herself to move as her body tried to drag her into a deep sleep. Once dressed, Fred had kissed her forehead and told her he was heading down to breakfast but had barely had the energy to sigh in response.

Fred went downstairs to enjoy the hotel’s basic continental breakfast. As he received his toast, eggs, lox, and latte, he made sure to place an order for her typical breakfast as well. He ate slowly while reading the local paper, expecting her to show up any minute, but she never joined him. Concerned after an hour, he returned to their hotel room to find Hermione still out cold.

His eyes narrowed in concern. His first assumption was that he had worn her out with so much travel, but then he noticed her notes on the table. His eyes widened in surprise at how much she had written. Fred’s jaw clenched. It didn't take a genius to realize she had been up most of the night after two straight days of touring.

He couldn’t help but feel a little peeved. He had planned their trip so that Hermione could enjoy her time off, but she couldn't even let work go long enough to get enough sleep. In the end, he had no issue with having a day in and had no interest in fighting, so he decided to climb back into bed with her, waking her up as he settled beside her.

“What’s the plan for today?” she asked sleepily.

“We don’t need to do anything,” he replied as he snuggled back against her.

“No… what did you plan?” Hermione pushed, a little more awake now.

“You barely got any sleep, Mi.” Fred tried to reason as he tried to settle down. “Let’s just stay in.”

“No,” Hermione insisted as she moved to sit up. “I don’t want to mess up your plans because of my lack of sleep. I’m fine. Let’s go now.”

“I don’t want you to force yourself, Mi.” Fred frowned. “The point of this trip is to relax.”

“I’m more than capable of handling an all-nighter, Fred!” Hermione exclaimed stubbornly.

“I know you are, love, but I’d like you to relax a bit.”

“So you don’t think I’m relaxed?” Hermione asked stubbornly.

“Mi, I think you may be getting upset because you’re tired,” Fred explained calmly, trying to defuse the situation before either of them got too upset so soon after their last fight. 

Hermione could feel the exhaustion, but she refused to admit defeat. “You know, if you don’t believe that I can take care of myself, then you can just take your shit and leave!” she exclaimed defiantly. The moment the words left her mouth, she recognized that she sounded childish in her frustration, but she was determined to make sure they still enjoyed their trip and she was frustrated that Fred didn’t want to.

Fred’s face immediately shut down, devoid of all emotion. He got out of bed and left the hotel room.

Slowly waking from her dream memory, Hermione realized that she’s the one who had fucked up. Fred had spent so much time and energy on making sure she had a wonderful vacation, no matter how she decided to spend their days, but she had done nothing but make the trip miserable for him. She vowed to make the rest of the trip a dream come true for her boyfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

What felt like mere seconds later, Hermione felt the car pull to a stop as Fred put the car into park. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around.

“Where are we?” she asked, curiously. The architecture was still distinctly Italian, but it felt less polluted than Rome. Fred rolled the windows of the car down and the smell of lemon and orange blossoms permeated the air. She breathed deeply, barely able to detect the smell of the sea.

“We’re in Sorrento,” Fred told her. Hermione stared at him blankly as she tried to remember where Sorrento was. When it clicked, she balked.

“Wait… Sorrento as in one of the Metropolitan cities of Naples?” Hermione asked, surprised. "You drove us down to the Amalfi coast? How long was I asleep?"

"About three hours," Fred replied as if it were nothing while he unbuckled and got out of the car.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione told him as guilt struck her. She was apologizing for more than falling asleep and leaving him to drive alone, but he didn’t realize what she meant.

"I didn’t mind," Fred replied immediately. "If I had minded you taking a nap, I would have woken you up. As it is, you needed some rest since you've been taking too many all-nighters at the Ministry before we ever got to Rome. On top of last night, we were doing heavy touring for the last few days. I'm actually happy you could relax enough to get a few hours of rest."

"Thank you," she replied gratefully. “I just feel bad that I needed it.”

“Anyone would have,” Fred shrugged as he unbuckled. “After moving around so much, I felt dead on my feet by the time we got back to the hotel. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to pull an all-nighter like that, but that just shows how much you care about everyone outside of yourself. Hopefully here, you can let go a little bit.”

How had she ever believed that he never thought of her anymore! In the few hours since their fight, Hermione was realizing that all of the problems they had been facing weren't because he wasn't meeting her halfway, but because she was expecting more of him than he was already giving, without putting enough effort in herself.

The truth was, he did nothing but support her and her career. She didn’t deserve him or his kindness.

Before she could apologize, he got out of the car.

Walking around the car, Fred opened the door for Hermione and held out his hand to help her out. She took it with a blush.

“Fred, I—”

“Forget it.” He cut her off gruffly as he enlarged their bags and carried them inside the Hotel Plaza. Hermione took a breath and looked down into the valley that the hotel overlooked from the cliff-side. She needed a quick breather if Fred was still in a mood. Her apology would do nothing right now.

The valley had an old building at the base, and she made a mental note to ask the staff what it was. Aside from that, the beautiful valley was lush with trees and rare plants. She could barely see a reflection from some water at the base, but since it was close to a 200 foot drop, she had no idea if it was a river or pond.

Fred was wise to bring her here. Hermione remembered reading the name of the town on the map while looking at pictures, but she hadn’t researched the town. All she knew about the small city was that it was directly on the coast like the rest of Naples and it was famous for its lemons which were used to make the nation’s limoncello.

Sighing, she entered the hotel lobby of the Hotel de Vallone dei Mulini and found Fred accepting a key-card from the front desk concierge..

“Remember, sir, that the card also runs the lights in the room,” the receptionist was saying. Fred nodded and took Hermione’s hand as he felt her join his side. Even though they were technically fighting, her heart felt visceral relief that he still wanted to be close enough to touch and hold her. Even if it was just to hold her hand.

Her relief was short-lived as he released her hand after a few moments to grab their bags. Hermione sadly followed Fred into the lift and her heart sank at the defeated look on his face.

“Fred, I’m really sorry that I made you change our plans. I can help pay for the diff—”

“I’d been planning this part of our trip for months,” he confessed, cutting her off. “I don’t want you to apologize for a surprise. I just wanted to bring you to a place where you may be able to relax. We can go out tomorrow, but for now, let’s just unpack, have a drink, and get some dinner later.”

She silently agreed and followed him as he entered their room. She couldn’t describe her relief at the sight of a large king-sized bed in the room instead of two queens. Maybe she hadn’t fucked up as much as she thought.

“You should get some more rest,” Fred muttered softly, placing their bags on the bed. He paused and looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he sighed again in apparent defeat and whispered, “I’ll wake you up when it’s time for our dinner reservation.”

“Where are you going?” Hermione asked, bewildered that he’d just leave her alone after driving her across a foreign country.

“I’m going to head to the downstairs bar and I might take a walk around the block. I won’t be going far,” he explained. They may be fighting now, but he wasn’t going to take her away somewhere and leave her without any information. He was pissed, but that was awful.

Before Hermione could respond, he left the room.

She sighed angrily and flicked her wand at their bags, instantly unpacking them into the drawers and closet. Then she grabbed their toiletry bags and took them into the ensuite. Returning to the room, Hermione noticed the staff had left them a bottle of champagne and she sighed sadly. She had really fucked up. But… had she really?

Fred had been a lot more distant recently without explanation. Okay, so she may have gotten a little sidetracked, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t pulled all-nighters before. She acknowledged she had definitely contributed to the spoiled mood during their vacation, but that didn’t pardon Fred’s increasing emotional distance.

No, she wasn’t going to let her vacation continue like this. They were going to talk things over and start to enjoy themselves again.

Hermione flicked her wand at the champagne and cast a stasis charm over it and the ice bucket before ripping the key card out of the wall. The instant she did, the lights went dark in the room.

_ Interesting and efficient way to save on electricity _ , she mused as she stormed to the elevator and punched the button until it dinged, tapping her foot impatiently as the lift descended, and storming halfway down the hall before the doors fully opened.

Turning the corner, she took a deep breath to calm down and not make a scene in the lobby and bar area of their hotel. Scanning the room, she caught sight of Fred receiving a drink at the bar and made her way over to him.

“Hey,” she greeted with a forced smile as she sat down. “We need to talk.”

Fred nodded and took a sip of his Moscow Mule before offering it to her. She smiled briefly, accepting and tasting his favourite drink.

“I want to apologize for  _ everything _ ,” she insisted. “I got so hung up on the negatives that I probably spoiled that whole tour for you and I’ve been so absorbed in work, I didn’t even sleep with you last night or help you plan this trip and... oh, Fred. Can you ever forgive me?"

Fred blinked at her. That was clearly not what he expected. To be honest, Hermione hadn’t really expected that from herself either, but as if a damn had been broken down inside herself she had to keep going.

"I realized that I was expecting way more from you than I've been giving back," Hermione continued. "I kept having misconceptions that I let narrate how I treated you and... I became foolish. You've been kinder to me in the last few hours than I fear I've been to you in Merlin knows how long! I’ve been so distracted the last few months and I let myself put you on the backburner. Bloody hell, I put  _ us _ on the backburner. Maybe if I had been paying more attention, I would have noticed that you’ve been becoming more distant.”

“Stop that train of thought, love,” he insisted as he laid a hand on her knee. He took the glass back from her and took a long draw. “We’ve both been busy and there’s been a lot on my mind. I promise you that I’m not going anywhere. I’m stuck on you like Sticky Trainers... and they're one of our most popular products! I think I figured this vacation would have been a nice break.”

“I think we both can agree to that.” Hermione nodded.

“Can I make a request?” he asked. “Can we just… restart? We did the Rome portion because I knew you loved history and facts, and Rome is  _ fueled _ with it. But from tonight on, I want us to reset our vacation. This is an old town, but it’s fresh. It’s relaxing. We both have been worn down by our jobs for a while. Can we just… can we commit to being ‘just us’ for the rest of the trip?”

“I’d love that more than anything,” she told him. "If you’re up to it, I’d love it if we could restart the rest of our vacation upstairs?”

Fred’s eyes darkened immediately and he pulled out his wallet to throw a couple of bills onto the counter. He stood, downed the rest of his drink, and dragged her towards the lift. The doors had barely shut when Hermione found her back against a wall and Fred's lips covering her own.

“I don’t want to fight anymore,” he told her as he pressed against her more firmly. There were better things to do than repeat the discussion they had just had at the bar.

“Yes,” Hermione breathed as he leaned in to kiss her again. She moved her hands to tangle in his hair and tugged lightly, causing him to groan into her mouth and pull her flush against him.

At that moment, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Hermione tried to pull away, but Fred refused to let her go. Instead, he just hoisted her over his shoulder again.

“I  _ really  _ don’t like this new habit of yours!” She laughed as he carried her the few steps to their room. He only put her down so that he could get the keycard in the door and she barely made it inside before he slammed the door shut and their clothes went flying.

* * *

An hour later, the pair was lounging in bed when Fred got up and walked over to the side table. He grabbed the bottle of champagne and showed it to Hermione. Grinning, she sat up enthusiastically.

“Pop it open!”

Fred did so and poured two glasses.

“Here’s to starting our vacation over on the right foot,” he toasted. Hermione beamed and clinked her glass with his.

The two spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy in bed as they talked, laughed, and polished off the bottle of champagne. When the sun started to get low in the sky, Fred got out of bed and started to get dressed.

“I made reservations at a nice little restaurant the hotel staff recommended,” he explained. “I think we should dress up, based on what they said downstairs.”

Hermione got out of bed and kissed Fred on the cheek as she passed him to enter the bathroom. She used a cleansing charm to remove the sweat from her body, washed her face, re-applied her makeup, and slipped on a little black dress that she knew he loved. When she left the bathroom, she saw him give her an obvious once over as she moved to sit on the bed for balance to put on her heels.

“You look delectable,” she remarked, looking him over. He had dressed up nicely in a white Oxford and tie over slacks, completing the look with a coordinating blazer. In a word, he looked hot.

Once her heels were on, she pulled out her jewelry bag from her purse and put on her little diamond studs and necklace before putting the little pouch in the suite’s safe. Deeming herself ready to go, she turned to face Fred, only to find him missing.

“Fred, honey?” she called out, assuming he’d be in the bathroom but a sudden knock on their hotel room door answered her call. She laughed and opened it to reveal her boyfriend and a bouquet of orange blossoms.

A bewildered smile pulled the corners of her mouth upwards. “Are you serious?” she asked, surprised and overjoyed in equal measure.

“These are for you.” He grinned as he handed the gift over.

Hermione accepted the bouquet and inhaled the scent deeply. “You’re perfect.” She smiled at him. 

To most, he’d be ‘too much’ or ‘reckless’ or even ‘the most bizarre match the Golden girl could have chosen’ — if you asked Rita Skeeter. But, to Hermione, he was the man who treated her like a queen and saw her as his equal.

The two walked out of their room and linked arms. Fred moved his to wrap around her waist, pulling Hermione into his side. She leaned up to press a kiss against his lips as the elevator descended.

He led her out of the hotel and the two strolled down the street. Hermione loved the feel of the town; there were plenty of locals and tourists out and about. They reached the town square and she sighed, snuggling into Fred’s side. This little town really was close and romantic.

Following the hotel staff’s instructions, he led her down a narrow alley on the other side of the square and they stopped in front of a quaint little restaurant named La Basilica.

Hermione gratefully let the maître d' guide them to their table.

“Do you mind if I order for us?” Fred asked her once they were seated.

“Of course.” Hermione nodded as she closed her menu happily.

She knew that Fred — like herself — was a researcher, no matter if he showed it or not. He may come across as impulsive and he definitely could be, but most of the time he had already completed a lot of reading beforehand. If he wanted to order for them, it typically meant he had researched ahead of time — likely while Hermione was unpacking their room, since this was one of the hotel’s recommendations — and would most likely pick the best options the restaurant had to offer.

“We’ll split the chef’s seafood full-course special then,” Fred told the waiter. “And we’ll also take a bottle of chardonnay to go with it.”

“An excellent choice, sir,” the waiter complimented as he walked off to collect their drinks.

“This is so nice.” Hermione smiled as he brought their drinks and their appetizers — Scabbard fish parmigiana with eggplant, mozzarella cheese, and tomato.

As they split the dish, she took in the sights of the restaurant. It was obviously a very nice establishment, but she couldn’t help but giggle. Looking around, Fred joined her in quiet laughter. On every single wall were different paintings of Mount Vesuvius erupting in different stages.

“Nothing like the images of imminent death to get you in the mood for a delicious meal, right?” Fred whispered.

Hermione had just gotten her amusement under control when his comment made her dissolve into giggles again.

“Your primi piatti di pesce,” the waiter introduced as he placed their next dish in front of them. “Tagliolini fatti in casa gamberi e limoni di Sorrento.”

“First course,” Fred grinned. “If it’s anything like the appetiser, I can’t wait.”

“It looks fantastic!” Hermione’s eyes sparkled excitedly as she gazed at the handmade tagliolini with shrimp flavored with Sorrento’s famous lemons.

“Did you know that most italian limoncello is made with the lemons from Sorrento?” Hermione asked Fred as they dug into their first course.

“I actually did.” He grinned at her. “Did you know that the oranges grown here are becoming almost as famous?”

“I didn’t!” Hermione’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’d love to learn more about it when we get home.”

“I’ll show you my guidebook later,” Fred promised.

Hermione squeezed his hand gratefully on top of the table as they ate and chatted softly about other topics. They barely noticed when their dish was clean and the waiter reappeared to place their second course of king prawns from the gulf with rocket and cherry tomatoes in front of them.

They were beginning to get a pleasant buzz from the chardonnay and Hermione couldn’t remember ever enjoying such delicious seafood in her life.

“After dinner, do you want to get gelato in the square?” Fred asked as he removed his fork from the plate so Hermione could polish off their meal.

“I’d love that.” She smiled. “This dinner has been amazing, but I’m craving another gelato like we had at the Trevi fountain.”

“You got coffee and honey, right?” Fred grinned.

“It was so delicious,” Hermione moaned in memory. The sound made Fred grow instantly hard. Tamping down his desire for her, he waved down the waiter and quickly paid the bill.

He offered Hermione his arm and they left the restaurant. 

Hermione gasped at the view of the square. There were twinkling lights strung up around the shops and people were milling around the streets window, shopping and eating the famous Italian dessert.

Fred and Hermione perused the designer shops on the main street as they walked hand in hand, occasionally popping into a gelataria to check the selections. When they came across a small gelateria that looked decent, they entered and each ordered a double scoop. Fred got limoncello and the local lemon orange ‘fruit punch’ specialty while Hermione ordered the coffee and tiramisu option, since her favorite combination wasn’t available. They decided to eat their delicious treat as they walked back down the street to their hotel.

When they got into their room, their hands immediately started peeling away each other’s clothes. They quickly fell into bed and their bodies automatically melded together.

Hours later, they succumbed to exhaustion. Fred kissed Hermione’s forehead as he pulled the blanket over them, wrapping her into his arms as they both fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of the locations mentioned in this story were visited by myself in December 2019!
> 
> La Bascilica Restaurant: http://www.ristorantelabasilica.com/


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Hermione stretched lazily as she woke up in Fred’s arms. She couldn’t imagine feeling happier. She had the man of her dreams who understood her and she was on vacation in paradise.

“Morning, love.” Fred grinned at her sleepily as he woke up to the feeling of her movements. She smiled back and rolled on top of him so she could kiss him sweetly. His hands found her hips as he held her against him. Hermione pulled away as she felt her boyfriend’s morning wood rubbing against her thigh.

“Want to join me in the shower this morning before breakfast?” She winked at him invitingly as she pulled away from their kiss.

“Always!” He beamed as she moved off of him.

Fred followed her out of bed and grabbed some towels from the closet as Hermione started the water and climbed into the shower. He followed her into the spray and pressed her against the shower wall. 

They didn’t get out of the shower for another hour after that.

Once they were both clean and dressed for their day of planned window and souvenir shopping, they took the elevator down to the second floor and found the most intense breakfast bar that Hermione had ever seen. The hotel had three different bars — an American style breakfast with sausage, scrambled and boiled eggs, and bacon, an English-style breakfast bar with poached eggs and lox, and even a continental option with so many local and foreign sweets.

Hermione had never seen such a large selection of pastries and couldn't help herself as she did a little dance in excitement. Fred laughed softly, but completely understood.

“It all looks so good!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“How about you fix your plate and I’ll get our drinks?” Fred suggested. She felt as if her face would be twisted into a permanent grin as she kissed his cheek and hurriedly made her way over to the breakfast spread.

Fred asked the waiter for two mimosas and caffe lattes as he made his way to a free table. He pulled out his phone to check on his plans for the day, specifically in the evening, and quickly shot off a text just as Hermione joined him with two plates piled high.

“Hey,” she whispered as she sat beside him. Fred grinned at her and placed his hand on her thigh. He always loved the intimacy of sitting next to his girlfriend rather than always sitting across from her. “I couldn’t decide on what to get, so I thought we could share and both try a bit of everything.”

“That sounds amazing,” Fred agreed as he unwrapped a fork from his napkin. The host brought them their drinks and Hermione took a long sip of her latte as she dove into the American breakfast plate. Fred pulled the English breakfast towards himself and took a large bite of his salmon lox before sipping at his orange juice-flavored champagne.

They each ate half of their plate and switched, polishing off their dishes and standing together to go collect a few sweet pastries from the last breakfast buffet. As soon as they finished their meal, they downed their drinks and stood to leave. Fred gave their room number to the host on their way out so they could have breakfast charged to their room.

The pair went upstairs and grabbed their bags for the day. Fred threw his satchel over his back and Hermione grabbed her beaded bag. The witch and wizard made sure their wands were disillusioned, but strapped into their thigh holsters before they laced their fingers and left the hotel.

Before they spent their day window shopping and enjoying the daily life of Piazza Tasso and Sorrento, they made a pit-stop to visit a local church known for its art, and stared in admiration at the beauty within the hallowed halls.

Uninterested in the fashion street, they left the church and made their way through the back alleys to find the local shops. When they came across a local ceramics shop, Hermione enthusiastically pulled Fred into the store and bought magnets with the dates and a nice decorative ceramic plate for their flat above Fred’s joke shop. They also bought a few small trinkets for their friends.

As they window shopped, they discovered a quaint local pizzeria named Da Gigino where they decided to stop for lunch. Hermione ordered a delicious pizza made in their wood oven and Fred enjoyed a delicious lemon flavored seafood pasta. Both insisted they had picked the better dish and they willingly shared bites of their meals. While they sipped at their espressos after their meal, Fred checked his phone.

“Hey, Mi, there’s a famous local wood inlay shop down the street. Do you want to check it out?”

“I’d love that,” Hermione replied, intrigued. “It sounds fascinating. Let’s go!”

Fred paid their bill and the pair walked back down the alley towards Augusto & Luca’s workshop. The signature wood inlay shop had beautiful images lining the walls. Neither could believe that the images were only made with tiny pieces of layered wood. They marveled at the stunning pictures made up of different colors of natural and stained wood.

The couple shared a look and knew what the other was thinking. They  _ had  _ to have one of the larger images as their main souvenir for their flat. They took great care in picking one of the larger images, and in the end, they picked out an image of the Sorrento cliffs that they planned on hanging in the entryway. 

Hermione became absorbed with talking with the third generation owner as his wife helped Fred pick out a few more small images to round out the souvenir gifts for their friends, as well as a special small jewelry box that he couldn’t pass up.

As they left the shop, they exchanged information excitedly about the techniques and skills shown in the shop.

“Everything was just so  _ beautiful _ ,” Hermione gushed as Fred helped her shrink the images enough to place carefully into her beaded bag.

Following Augusto’s instructions, the pair made their way over to Piazza della Vittoria — a park with a few local statues that overlooked the ocean. Hermione gasped and dashed ahead the second the ocean water entered their sights.

Fred took the moment alone to quickly check his phone. He grinned deviously as he saw the text of confirmation on the screen.

Hermione would have no idea what hit her later that evening.

The pair took turns being total sappy tourists as they spent the walk back to the town square, retracing their steps to take pictures of each other and the views. Once in the familiar square, Fred tucked the digital camera deep into his front pocket and laced his fingers with Hermione’s.

“What do you say about dropping back by the hotel?” he asked. “We’ve been running around all day and I’d love to take a break to get cleaned up before dinner.”

“You read my mind!” Hermione gave Fred a relieved smile. “It’s only three in the afternoon, but I could use a break.”

“How about we plan on getting cleaned up and maybe lazing around the hotel for a few hours and we can grab an early dinner? Then we can go and watch the sunset on the beach.”

Hermione felt her heart melt as she turned toward the love of her life. She couldn’t even fathom that she had demanded they break up the day before. Fred was utterly perfect for her and she’d never find a more perfect fit for her life.

Uncaring of the fact they were in the middle of the town square, Hermione pulled her hand from his so she could wrap her arms around Fred’s neck. She pulled him into a loving kiss. Fred froze for only a moment before she could feel his grin as he kissed her back. She giggled against his lips as he moved to dip her as he kissed her back.

She loved this man more than anything — even more than the embarrassment she felt as she heard a few locals and tourists applaud his very obvious public display of affection.

When he pulled away, Fred sent her ahead to the hotel as he offered to make reservations at a restaurant. Hermione took him at his word and accepted his offer. Her feet were killing her and she couldn’t wait to sit down for a while. What she didn’t know was that, as she climbed into the shower, he was meeting with a few people in the town square. He passed them a few items from his bag and shook hands with each, clapping them on the shoulder in gratitude for their secrecy.

Jogging back to the hotel, he grinned. His plan was perfect. There was nothing that could mess up his ultimate surprise for Hermione.

* * *

When Fred entered their hotel room, he noticed Hermione’s bag on the bed and heard the shower running. As tempted as he was to join her, a little niggling voice in his head told him to summon an owl to take care of delivering their souvenirs home first.

After a quick call downstairs to the magical concierge, he withdrew their multiple purchases from Hermione’s bag and carefully resized them to their proper dimensions. Seconds later, an owl hooted from the balcony of their suite. Fred opened the window and revealed two barn owls. He untied the wrapping paper from one of their legs and flicked his wand at the materials so they’d automatically wrap his purchases. Grabbing the small jewelry box from Augusto and Luca’s before the paper could get a hold of it, he pocketed it just as Hermione walked back into the room.

“Hey, love,” he greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. “Do you want to call downstairs for some coffee and we can read on the balcony for a little bit before heading to dinner?”

Hermione blinked at him before her grin pulled her cheeks even higher on her face.

“I don’t deserve you,” she vowed as she leaned in to kiss him.

Fred’s hands found her waist and pulled her closer. His lips melded deeply with hers and the pair made out for a few minutes before reluctantly separating.

Hermione made her way to the phone as Fred double checked the small box was in his pocket. He then secured the packages to the two birds before sending them off to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

As they flew off, he summoned a Patronus and his hyena greeted him with a little laugh.

“Tell Verity to make sure that six packages arrive with the two barn owls and she’ll get an extra paid day off at her leisure,” he instructed the hyena. The young witch still worked as the shop assistant for WWW and he and George liked to reward personal favors with extra time off. She was the quintessential representation of her house at Hogwarts, loyal and honest, and her employers greatly valued her dedication to her job.

Hermione and Fred spent the next few hours reading lazily before Fred got up to dress for dinner. Hermione slipped on her navy blue swimsuit and a white halter top sundress that fluttered around her knees. She loved how it could look nice enough for a restaurant, but practical enough to wear down to the beach. Ginny had picked it out for her on their shopping trip before Hermione and Fred left for Italy, and Hermione adored the extra little bit of boldness her best friend’s choice outfit gave her.

Fred emerged a few minutes later wearing slacks and a button down shirt. His grin split his face when he saw her outfit.

Hermione stared at him slightly baffled.

“I thought we were going straight to the beach afterwards?” she asked.

“We are,but I just felt like dressing up a bit. My shorts are under the slacks but you can’t blame me for wanting to look nice while I have you on my arm!”

Hermione blinked before laughing. “You are such a flatterer,” she blushed.

“Shall we?” Fred asked as he offered her his arm.

Hermione accepted it happily and they made their way to the restaurant.

They hadn’t traveled far when they walked up to the Muggle side of the establishment, Pizzeria Aurora. Fred squeezed her hand and turned to her.

"Can I trust you to stay here while I run inside for our food? It won't be too long."

"We aren't eating here?" Hermione was surprised. 

"No," Fred said quickly, but softened his response with a smile. "I wanted to have a picnic on the beach. We're just getting the meal to go since I can't cook worth shit."

Hermione couldn't help smiling at that and a giggle escaped her lips against her will. He wasn't kidding; he was a worse cook than she was, and that was saying something.

At the sound of her giggle, Fred's face lit up happily and his grin near split his face.

"I'll stay right here," she promised.

"And I'll be right back," Fred replied as he pressed a kiss to her hand and darted inside. 

Hermione sighed. As she waited, she could have sworn that she saw Harry and Ginny walking the other direction, but before she could call out, Fred was back by her side with a pizza box and small picnic bag that he handed to Hermione.

"I put a stasis charm on the pizza,” Fred explained. “There are also pizza crust chips and wine."

Hermione accepted his hand, but immediately looked back to where she had thought she’d seen their friends. There was no one there, so she shook herself off as if she had imagined it.

The couple walked down to the sand of the public beaches at Spiaggia Pubblica Sorrento and Fred conjured a blanket for them to sit down upon. Hermione helped him unpack the basket and blushed happily when she found a bottle of her favorite wine nestled inside. He uncorked the bottle and poured her a glass, which she accepted gratefully and taking a long sip.

Fred said nothing as he held a pizza crust chip up to her lips for her to eat. 

Chewing slowly, Hermione thought over the afternoon and previous few weeks. Taking another sip of wine, she steeled herself. Turning back towards Fred, she grabbed his wrist which was extended with another proffered chip and lowered it back to the blanket. She took one of her chips from the bag and held it up to his mouth instead.

"Share with me?" she asked, shyly. 

Despite the many years they had been together, she had never been very flirtatious or prone to try things she viewed as silly. Like feeding each other. Fred had conditioned her to accept food whenever he wanted to feed her, but it was rare that she’d try it the other way around. She had vowed, though, that she wanted to be a better partner to Fred and she knew he’d love this.

Fred quickly leaned toward the chip and took it from her hand with his teeth. Quickly chewing and swallowing, a grin spread across his face.

"Thanks, love. Do you mind if I have another?"

Hermione quickly decided that the happy look on Fred's face made the embarrassment worth it. As she fed him another chip, before taking one for herself, she felt the knot that had built itself a home in her heart for months slowly start to unfurl.

All too quickly, the chips ran out. The couple laughed and shared the pizza as the sun began its slow descent to the horizon.

She blinked in surprise when he kissed her, then made sure she kissed him back with all of her love from the last few days. She gazed into her boyfriend’s eyes and realized she’d never find another man remotely close to him. She was so lucky to have him.

When Fred reached toward her and pulled her into his chest, she followed willingly. She straddled him as he pulled her into his lap. Effortlessly, and with years of practice, her hands moved up his chest from where she was gripping his shirt to wrap around his neck as she opened her mouth to kiss him deeper.

Fred was the first to pull away against her wishes. When she leaned in to pull him back into the kiss, he moved back out of her reach.

"Mi—" 

"Marry me," she blurted out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of the locations mentioned in this story were visited by myself in December 2019!
> 
> Da Gigino Restaurant: http://www.dagigino.com/  
> Augusto & Luca’s workshop: http://www.augustoelucasworkshop.com/  
> Pizzeria Aurora: http://www.pizzeriaaurora.com/ (but the pizza crust chips were from Da Gigino... artistic liberties! :P )
> 
> I swear... if you do NOTHING else with your day, look up Augusto and Luca's... Their skill is AMAZING to behold. My family spent a legitimate three hours in their workshop. A third generation shop and Augusto was so nice!!!


	4. Chapter 4

"Marry me," she blurted out. 

Fred's eyes widened as Hermione continued without taking a breath. "I know this probably seems out of the blue and you probably think I’m crazy, but—"

"Hold on!" Fred finally used his hand to cover her lips to stop her talking. She couldn't help but notice that his fingers tasted salty and she briefly wondered if she was tasting the beach or the pizza crust. "What part of me wanting to marry you is crazy?"

Hermione's mouth opened to respond, but his lips covered hers in a passionate kiss deep enough to make her dizzy.

"Ridiculous woman," he grumbled against her mouth between searing kisses. Hermione was so stunned, she could only cling to him. "I dragged you all the way out here because  _ I _ was going to propose to  _ you _ ... and then you beat me to the punch."

"You...  _ what?" _

"Hermione." Fred pulled away to stare into her eyes. "I've loved you for years. I told myself ages ago that I'd marry you one day. When you tried to kick me out earlier, I knew that you were stressed and letting it speak for you. I told you I'd never let you dump me in a situation like that. I dragged you out here so that I could help you see us more clearly again."

"I realized I was wrong before we even got to Sorrento," she confessed. 

Fred smirked and laid a quick kiss on her lips. “Hermione Granger.” He looked at her seriously then. “I need to ask you a question and I need you to answer honestly. Do you love me?”

Hermione nodded emphatically. “More than anything,” she told him.

“Do you want to live your life with me?” he asked, this time his voice wavered slightly with nerves.

“Yes, Fred,” she replied as tears sprung into her eyes. “I want nothing more than to spend my life with you.”

"Hermione," he called her name softly, taking her hand in an attempt to pull her attention back to him. "Will  _ you _ marry  _ me?" _

_ Her  _ breath caught as Fred revealed her perfect ring. It  _ was _ perfect. The band was styled to match the vines on her wand and the center diamond was surrounded by a halo of sapphires.

"Why the sapphires?" Hermione couldn't help but ask. It was beautiful and she loved it, but the design was not quite traditional. Just like her.

"They're our birthstones. The diamond represents me in April and the sapphires are for you in September. It's custom in the wizarding world to use a groom's birthstone for an engagement ring. It's an ancient sign of ownership, saying that the husband essentially owns his wife. Totally outdated, in my opinion. However, I know you like to find a little extra meaning in everything and I know it's a Muggle custom to propose with a diamond, so I decided to just go for it and combine the two traditions by using  _ both  _ of our birthstones."

"Fred..." Hermione trailed off, touched at how much thought he had put into the design. "Yes," she whispered through her right hand as she lowered her left into Fred's outstretched palm. "I will. Of  _ course _ I'll marry you, you prat!"

"Brilliant!" Fred beamed as he took the ring from the box and slipped it onto her ring finger. Standing, he pulled her close and rested his forehead against hers in a quiet moment.

Hermione responded by pushing her boyfriend backwards into the sand and kissing him until they both had difficulty breathing.

“It’s about time you asked,” she panted a whisper into the space between them when they finally pulled apart.

“Wasn’t sure you’d agree,” Fred grinned as he rolled her over onto her back and kissed her again.

It was only when Fred pulled away that she realized that they had a lot of company and everyone was applauding.

She stared around her in shock as all of their family members emerged from the sand dunes and started congratulating the couple. If she could have blushed any more, she would have as she stood up to embrace everyone in gratitude for their well wishes.

"Okay, everyone! You know your places! Let's do this!" Fred called out to the crowd.

"Wait. Let's do what?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Get married, of course," Fred smiled as he took her hand in his.

Hermione stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before it clicked in her mind. "Hold on, you mean  _ now _ ?! Fred Weasley, we  _ just _ got engaged a few seconds ago!"

"Of course we should get married right now!" He beamed at her as if it made the most sense in the world. "I want to make you  _ Mrs _ . Fred Weasley, before you have a chance to overthink it and throw me out again. Although I've been in love with you since the first day we met on the train and you told me off for not helping to look for Neville's toad, so there's really no chance I'd let you go anyhow. Besides, it’s not like all of our friends and family came to Italy just to watch me propose."

"But... but... there's preparations to be made," Hermione tried to argue as she quickly became overwhelmed. "There's invites, and flowers, and planning, and a cake, and, and...  _ what?" _ She was truly becoming confused as the evening continued to evolve outside of her expectations.

"Hermione," Fred took her face in his hands. "I already prepared for those things. As for the invites, everyone who means something to us is here. Think about it. Is there a reason why we  _ shouldn't _ get married today?"

"But what about—"

"Hermione. We’re both dressed for a modest beach wedding, we're surrounded by our friends and family, and we’re on the coast of Amalfi at sunset." Her mouth popped open at the realization.

"Ginny  _ knew _ ?!" She was shocked her friend had convinced her to buy a practically modest wedding gown without letting on that that was her goal when they went shopping for dresses before the trip.

"Darling." Fred laughed heartily, pulling her into his arms. " _ Everyone knew _ ."

"Except me," she argued.

"That was kind of the point." He smirked back. Shooting him a quick glare, she looked around. Everyone she cared about was in attendance and the scenery was completely magical. Fred truly had thought over everything and visualized it with her in mind. If they didn't get married today, she would have planned an identical minimalistic wedding in the future. All that mattered to her was that everyone they cared about was in attendance. Even Charlie and Bill’s kids were there.

"Oh, alright," she sighed, defeated. "Let's get on with this wedding!"

"I'm so glad you see it my way," he remarked as he grabbed her hand to lead her down the beach.

"Don't get used to it," she argued.

"Oh, I know," he agreed as their fingers laced together. "But thank you for letting me have my way today."

The party followed the couple over to Peter’s Beach where George promised that everything was set up. 

Hermione was confused at first but gasped as an outdoor chapel came into view. A gazebo had been erected and seats lined either side of an aisle leading to the small podium within on the beach, but the boardwalk was set up for dancing and snacks after the ceremony. Altogether, it was stunning and perfect.

"Fred, when on earth did you have the time to set this up?" Hermione was awestruck. “You were with me all day!”

"Why on earth do you think we've been avoiding this section of Sorrento since we arrived?” he asked. “We’ve only gone to the left side of town since I had to distract you so that our wonderful friends could get this set up!" His chest puffed out a little in pride at having stunned her so thoroughly, before he gave her a swift peck on the cheek. “We can visit the other side of town over the next few days!”

Hermione laughed and nodded, willing herself not to cry. This was hardly the first or last surprise Fred would spring on her, and she couldn’t help how much she loved the impossible man.

"Hermione, dear?"Her father joined the couple and took her arm as Fred slipped away towards his brothers and parents. "May I have the honor of walking you down the aisle?"

Hermione teared up. "Daddy, you knew he was planning this?"

Her father smiled warmly as her mother came up beside him, holding the veil she’d worn at her own wedding.

"Fred asked us for our blessing weeks ago, sweetheart. We gave it openly. You always have such a large smile on your face when you talk about him or are with him.” Her mother kissed her cheek as Hermione could no longer hold back her tears and broke down crying on her muom’s shoulder, overwhelmed by everything.

She didn’t know whether she wanted to hex the man, snog him senseless, or skip the ceremony altogether to just drag him back to their rooms.

Ginny appeared with Luna at that point and all three women made a few minor adjustments to Hermione’s outfit. Ginny magically tamed her curls into submission and Luna added a few braids and flowers. Fleur joined them and Hermione hugged the woman she had come to view as an older sister.

“Bill and I hoped you’d wear the Weasley crest bracelet as your something borrowed,” the French woman offered. “Molly and Arthur passed it on to us when we got married and we want to loan it out to everyone in the family on their wedding days.”

“I’d be honored,” Hermione answered through her happy tears. Fleur quickly fastened the bracelet and let Ginny push her out of the way in the red-head’s excitement.

“Your new blue swimsuit and white dress are covered by me!” Ginny grinned as she and Luna finished Hermione’s hair. “And — not to brag — but I’m such a genius for making sure the lace matched your mum’s veil.”

Hermione gasped as her mother offered the priceless heirloom. As soon as the piece was fixed in her hair, she pulled all of the women into a group hug, not knowing where she’d be without their support that day.

"Here's a sixpence for your shoe." Her father spoke as the girls detangled from each other. He handed her the coin as Hermione completed the Muggle traditions by slipping it into her flats.

"I just… isn’t this all happening so fast?" 

"Now stop that, Hermione," Jean Granger scolded as she reappeared next to her daughter. "You two work together better than anyone else I know. Anyone who watches you two can tell you have this sort of magnetism — when one of you shifts in one direction, the other follows — even if you're across the room from each other and not paying attention. That's the first sign for soulmates. Besides that, you love him, you feel comfortable around him, and he makes you laugh more than anyone else. You may have a bump or two, but I guarantee that the pair of you will be just fine!"

Hermione smiled as her mother comforted her. She wrapped her mother in a close hug and willed her tears back. Fleur reappeared and subtly waved her wand at Hermione’s face. No one knew beauty charms better than the part-Veela and Hermione was grateful for the tingly sensation, knowing her charm had reduced the red puffy look to something less dramatic.

After accepting her bouquet of tropical flowers laced with orange and lemon blossoms from Ginny, Hermione took her father's arm and nodded as the final group of her friends took their seats. Ginny took her own small bouquet and started down the aisle towards the front where Fred, George, and Harry stood. Hermione let out a short exhale of laughter as she realized she never even asked Ginny to be her Matron of Honor and the girl had taken the position as her own. Hermione had no complaints as she took her father's arm and her mother placed her hand at the small of her back so that both of her parents could lead her down the aisle.

Harry was practically jumping up and down in his excitement at the front of the altar, rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet as Hermione walked towards him, her gaze radiant — albeit a bit shell-shocked at her best friend’s enthusiasm.

Ever since he’d been ordained a minister — thanks to the world wide web — this moment had been foremost in his mind. He’d practised in front of the bathroom mirror, living for the day he could stand up in the company of family and friends and recite those famous words. 

Now he had his chance and, by  _ Fezzik _ , he was going to take it! 

“Mate,” Fred muttered out of the side of his mouth as his bride-to-be made her way down the aisle. “You better make this romantic but memorable. I agreed to let you do this because you’re her best friend, but don’t make me regret this. You have the same look on your face that George typically wears when we plan a prank!”

Harry managed to look affronted. “Of course I’ll do this right. What kind of bloke do you take me for?”

“Make. It. Good.” Fred’s eyes flashed. He loved pranks more than anyone, but even he could realize that his wedding ceremony was not the place. Afterwards, however  — he had plans.

Harry disagreed as Hermione’s parents  both kissed her cheeks as her father placed her hand in Fred's.

As Hermione felt him squeeze her hand, she glanced at her future husband, still in awe at the way her evening was turning out. They’d had such a wonderful day window shopping, but now it felt so surreal that she was getting married.

_ Was this actually happening? Was it the right thing to do?  _

Fred immediately noticed the apprehension in her face and reached for her other hand, holding both tightly. Hermione used the comfort to force herself to not overthink. Despite seeing her take a deep breath, Fred still turned to smile through gritted teeth at Harry, his look a promise of lit fireworks shoved up the Chosen One’s arse if the saviour of the wizarding world didn’t start talking right now.

But no one —  _ no one _ — was going to ruin this eagerly awaited moment for Harry James Potter.

“Mawwiage…” he began, beaming at the stunned guests, especially Fred and Hermione. “Mawwiage is wat bwings us togeder today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam wifin a dream. And wuv… twue wuv… will fowwow you foweva—!”

Harry’s voice trailed off to a whimper. Fred’s eyebrows furrowed before a wide grin split his face as he noticed his bride staring her best friend down as she put all of her weight on the foot she had covered Harry’s with.

He was tempted to kiss her at that moment, so he did. He pulled her close — and off of Harry’s foot — so he could press a kiss to her cheek.

Eyes watering from the pain in his legs, Harry took the hint. He said a few standard wedding quotes — making sure to make it as sappy as possible — before he practically threw the rings at the bride and groom, pronounced them husband and wife, and hobbled off to the drinks’ table. 

As Hermione and Fred exchanged their gold rings, and were pronounced man and wife, they both couldn’t imagine a happier moment. The ceremony couldn't have lasted more than twenty minutes, but Hermione felt like it was an eternity before Fred was pulling her forward to give her their first kiss as man and wife.

"I’m so glad you planned this," she gushed at him.

Fred just smirked before sweeping in again to claim her lips with his own. Hermione had never understood how the romance books could describe the feeling of floating from simply a kiss. Until now. Her heart felt about ten times lighter and she swore she could feel it expanding in her chest as she pulled back to beam at Fred.

She jumped slightly, confused, when George sidled up next to them and took the veil out of her hair.

“George? What are you—?  _ Fred Weasley! Put me down this instant _ !”

Her screeches were met by laughter as her family chuckled at the sight of Fred scooping Hermione into his arms.

Instead of carrying her down the aisle though, he took off towards the surf at a sprint.

Seconds later, Hermione and Fred  _ literally  _ took the plunge as husband and wife as Fred jumped into the ocean with Hermione — who was screaming promises of bodily harm — in his arms. Resurfacing and spitting out salt water, Hermione couldn’t help but laugh with her new spouse.

"So," he asked as he pulled her close. "How does it feel to be Mrs. Weasley?"

"Like everything I didn't realize I was missing," she whispered without thinking, not even caring that she was soaked.

Fred beamed as he pulled her in for another kiss.

"Brilliant."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I visited all of the locations listed! If you ever have the chance, look up photos and book your trip!!!
> 
> Peter's Beach: http://www.petersbeachsorrento.com/


End file.
